


If The World Was Ending You'd Come Over, Right?

by cabbageboy



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Bittersweet, Character Death, Children of Characters, Death, End of the World, F/F, F/M, Natural Disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26921800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabbageboy/pseuds/cabbageboy
Summary: "They were in Brightmoon. They were at the epicenter of the disaster that was going to bring an end to life on Earth as they knew it. The only one who could possibly get out of this alive was Catra, having security clearance M-299 due to her degree, and it was clear by the broadcast that individuals without this clearance were not permitted on board an escape craft."At the end of the world, if you could only save yourself, would you? Or would you spend your last 24 hours making sure your family knew how much you loved them?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 118





	If The World Was Ending You'd Come Over, Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yes hello
> 
> I would be so so grateful if someone read this and enjoyed it, but its seriously so sad and I wouldn't blame you if you clicked away. I promise, no hard feelings. If I read this summary and these tags I wouldn't have even clicked on it.
> 
> When I tagged Major Character Death I meant it because EVERY character dies because it is the end of the world
> 
> Just wanted to make that warning super clear

_If the world was ending, you’d come over right?  
Sky’d be falling and I’d hold you tight  
And there wouldn’t be a reason why  
We would even have to say goodbye_

“.... Missile A 27-4 has failed to intercept the asteroid within the critical mission window. All citizens with clearance M-299 must report to an Emergency Evacuation Facility to prepare for departure. This is not a drill. If you have clearance M-299 you must report to the nearest facility in order to board an evacuation craft. All individuals are encouraged to leave worldly possessions behind in an effort to decrease wait time on security protocols. Only those with the clearance are authorized for boarding. Do not bring anyone with you who does not have the authorization, they will be turned away at the entrance. We repeat, only those with clearance are authorized for boarding.”

_Only those with the clearance are authorized for boarding_

Missile A 27-4 was the Earth’s last defense against the incoming extra terrestrial object, predicted to decimate the planet. It was going to make contact with Brightmoon at 11:22 AM EST July 25, 2052, and from there the shockwave would fan out and destroy everything in a 2000 mile radius. The resulting natural disasters around the globe would bring an end to society as it was known, and in the span of two weeks post collision the planet was expected to be a fracturing, splintering hunk of rock with a fading atmosphere. There would be no survivors left planet side. Prior missions to destroy the asteroid as it propelled through deep space were conducted at every interplanetary settlement between Earth and Saturn, each of them projecting to safely destroy the asteroid before it even got close to Earth. Those had all failed. 

It was 10:24 AM EST on July 24th, 2052 when every broadcast station across the planet gave the alert for those with Interplanetary Travel Clearance M-299 to drop what they were doing and proceed to the nearest Emergency Evacuation Facility. Receiving this clearance declared an individual both physically fit for off world travel and vital to the sustainability of a new colony/society on a planet off world.

Catra was one such person, having automatically gained the exact clearance four years ago upon earning her Doctorate in Interplanetary Research in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Brightmoon. She had never thought to go off world and kept the clearance more as a novelty, framed and sandwiched on the wall between her Doctorate and the picture of her and Adora on their wedding day. 

_Only those with the clearance are authorized for boarding._

Adora was at work that day with their children, Finn and Felix. She took them to work with her a few days a week and watched them in her office. It was the safest place in the world for her little family to be, but the world wasn’t safe anymore. 

Catra was authorized to evacuate the planet.

_Only those with the clearance are authorized for boarding._

But her family wasn’t.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, feeling her body go numb as she pulled it out and saw the contact photo, the polaroid taken by Glimmer at their most recent family dinner, light up her screen. It was Adora.

She clicked the green icon, answering the call, but couldn’t say anything as she held the phone to her head. What she heard shook her to the core.

“Go,” Adora choked out, breaking into sobs, “Baby you have to go.”

“No,” Catra whispered, panic welling up in her, “Come home. Now. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

The call was over like that. There wasn’t time to talk it out, to argue, to think through it logically because, well, the world was ending.

_The world was ending._

Adora burst into their apartment, Finn’s hand in hers as they walked beside her and Felix sleeping in her arms. She hoped when she walked in Catra would be packing a few things to take with her off world, she hoped to see her wife standing with a duffle bag at her side and ready to go with her clearance badge on a lanyard around her neck. If not, she hoped she could at least put the kids in the other room and beg her to go, to live for them off-world. She hoped she could convince Catra that she should carry her love for them with her through space until it was time for them to meet again. 

What she saw instead broke her, scared her more than she could imagine.

Catra was sitting on the couch in her red checkered pajama pants and matching top, the smell of chocolate mixing with the familiar scent of their pine candles. Catra’s hair was pulled up in a messy bun and on the coffee table in front of her were 3 mugs, one child sized, all brimming with steaming cocoa and melting marshmallows. Adora deflated, torn between being devastated that Catra wasn’t leaving, wasn’t going to take her chance to live, and being relieved that she didn’t need to spend the next 24 hours keeping it together and lying to Finn when they asked where Mama was. 

“Mama!,” Adora is broken from her internal conflict by Finn calling out for her wife, running toward the couch. Catra grins back at the child and stands up to retrieve their little body, having thrown themself toward their mother. Catra lifts Finn high above her head, blowing a raspberry into their stomach while they giggle and squirm. It warms Adora’s heart, the way it always does when she sees her wife with their children. The warmth is laced with something sour that makes her mouth water and her face pull and she puts Felix down on the couch between a pillow and the cushioned back before running to their bathroom, throwing the door closed, and vomiting into the toilet. She hears the door open and then close behind her, feels warm hands caress the sides of her face before gently pulling her hair back while she empties the contents of her stomach. 

She feels so sick, so twisted up inside. She knew, realistically, they only got so much time. They were supposed to grow old together and raise their kids. She can’t help the angry sob that racks her body or the cry that tears its way out of her throat. 

“Hey, hey baby look at me ok?” She hears Catra, voice strong but wavering slightly with the effort. She is scared, just like Adora is. 

“Why don’t you go? Why don’t you want to live, for us?” Adora says. 

It feels like a dumb question, because Adora wouldn’t leave Catra, Finn, and Felix for anything, even the chance to live. Her little family was her entire world, the wide universe outside meant nothing to her without them, so she knew why Catra was staying. 

“There isn’t a life for me without you, any of you. If I can’t have you with me, if you and the kids aren’t there, it's not a life. I wouldn’t be living without you,” Catra speaks firmly, holding Adora’s face and looking her in the eye. 

“No matter what happens, I’m staying with you.”

They don’t talk about it after that. Adora brushes her teeth while Catra rubs her back, and then when Adora looks up they nod at each other in the mirror. Arm in arm they walk out of the bathroom and Adora catches on to what Catra was trying when they walked in. The pajamas, the hot cocoa, Catra was trying to give their kids the best day she could. Adora was on board with the plan, now. They would have the happiest day as a family they could, because their children deserved this. They wouldn’t understand, being 4 and 1 year olds, and the last thing the women wanted to do was scare them when there was nothing they could do.

They were in Brightmoon. They were at the epicenter of the disaster that was going to bring an end to life on Earth as they knew it. The only one who could possibly get out of this alive was Catra, having security clearance M-299 due to her degree, and it was clear by the broadcast that individuals without this clearance were not permitted on board an escape craft. 

She would have had to leave her family behind.

Catra felt so stupid, so naive, that she didn’t try to secure the clearance for Adora, Finn, and Felix, while she could. They talked about it once, joked that maybe they should all get the clearance in case they wanted to move off world to a colony, but it was never a serious conversation. It was never a serious talk, applying for clearance for Adora and the kids. They never wanted to go off world, never thought that a colony on another planet was a place to raise their family. But now, thinking about how in the four years since she got her clearance she could have secured one for every member of her family, she felt so guilty that she didn’t take it seriously. She could have saved them, but she didn’t. She had chosen not to. 

She shook herself from those thoughts when she felt the squeeze of Adora’s hand, and tried to think about the love she had for her family and how she would only be able to feel it for around 23 more hours. It wasn’t her fault, she knew this. Reminding her that she had no way of knowing, that this wasn’t even in the realm of possibility for them, did nothing to stifle the guilt she felt. 

The two walked back to the living room and took in the sight of their apartment, photographs of their little family hung across the walls, from pictures of Finn and Felix when they were born, to them opening presents during the winter holidays, family dinners with Glimmer and Bow and their children. It was surreal, how it was all about to end in less than a day, their entire lives were going to come to a close and right now in their home with each other and their children, it all felt so normal. Finn is sitting on the couch looking after Felix, holding hands and making faces at their younger sibling, giggling at their babbling voice. They looked on at their children, their little family, and while the dread remained they couldn’t help but smile.

The two walked over to the couch, Adora grabbing Finn and Catra grabbing Felix, scooping them up, holding their giggling children and laughing with them, absorbing their warmth and happiness. Today would be a good day, it had to be. Adora cradled Finn to her chest tightly and reached out an arm to wrap around Catra’s shoulders, Catra kissed Felix on the top of the head and wound an arm around her wife’s waist. They stood there and held each other, squeezing tightly and kissing each other and their children until Finn began to wiggle impatiently.

They both took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of each other and their family before breaking apart. Adora put Finn down and said, “Why don’t we go get our pajamas on too?” 

While Adora took Finn to get dressed in their favorite pajamas, the ones with little green dinosaurs all over them, Catra changed baby Felix into their purple and blue striped onesie. The two returned to the living room after Adora made a stop in her and Catra’s bedroom to change into her blue pajama bottoms and grey sleeveless sweatshirt, and then joined Catra and their youngest on the couch. Catra had turned on a movie, the kids favorite, and the four sat together and held each other. Adora sat, legs stretched out across the couch and spread enough for Catra to slide between them. She held Felix and Finn in her arms next to each other, Finn holding their little siblings hand.

“I should call Glimmer,” Adora whispered once the movie was over. She pulled her phone out and saw a handful of texts and several missed calls, all from either Bow or Glimmer. She didn’t know what the situation with them was, if they had the clearance or not, but she had to call them back. 

“Adora? Where are you?” Glimmer said, answering the phone.

“Home, with Catra and the kids,” She whispered, not wanting to wake Finn and Felix from where they slept on Catra’s chest.

“Is Catra….. Is she going?” Glimmer asked, voice wavering.

“No, she decided to stay. We are staying here,” Adora says, “What about you?”

“We are staying,” She says back.

“Do either of you…. Do either of you have the clearance?” Adora asks, afraid of the answer.

“Bow and I both do. But you know what they said. No one without the clearance can go, and that includes children. I already asked,” Glimmer’s voice breaks gasping. 

Adora squeezes her eyes shut, a tear falling down her cheek.

“Glimmer, if you and Bow…. If you want to go, nobody will think less of you. We can… we can take care of Star and Jasper while you’re gone,” Adora offers, knowing the reaction she will get but letting her know that she would do this for her if it was what she wanted, needed to do.

“I know you would. But I am not leaving my children. I don’t want a life like that, even if I have Bow. I don’t want a life without my kids, or you and Catra and Finn and Felix. It wouldn’t be a life without my family, my whole family,” She chokes out, the refusal, though expected, still shakes Adora. 

“What did she say?” She hears Catra whisper, noticing the look on her face.

Without opening her eyes, Adora says, “They’re staying.”

“Tell them….. Tell them they can come over,” Catra says, gripping her children tighter.

“Glim? Glimmer, you and Bow…. Do you want to come over? Bring the kids and stay here until…. Well until it's over?” She says, hoping she’ll say yes. She hopes their dinner party last week isn’t the last time she’ll get to see them. 

“I… I want to. I have to ask Bow, I have to see what he wants. If he wants it to be just us, I want him to have that. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll text you, ok?” Glimmer says, clearing her throat and trying to regain some strength to her words. 

“Ok, Glim? If you can’t come, can you call me? Please?” Adora says, needing Glimmer to call her. There was too much to say over text.

“Yeah, I will,” She says before hanging up.

The hand holding her phone up to her ear falls to her side and she places the phone on the coffee table before wrapping her arms back around Catra to worry the hem of Finn’s shirt and the cuff of Felix’s onesie in her fingers, leaning forward to place a firm kiss to the back of Catra’s head. 

“I love you,” She says, trying with all of her might to pour as much love as she can into each expression. She thought she would get so much longer to tell Catra that she loved her. She thought she would have years to show her wife how much she meant to her, to express to her through tender caresses and sweet words that she made her life worth living. 

“I love you,” Catra’s voice broke, choking down a sob. She can’t believe that this was it, this was the end. 

But there was nothing to be done. The missile failed, the asteroid headed straight for them. In, what was it now, 20 hours? In 20 hours the life she made for herself with her family would be gone. 

Adora’s phone vibrated on the table, Glimmer’s text lighting up the screen.

“We are on our way.”

Adora looked down at her family in her arms, her wife and two sleeping children. She still couldn’t quite believe it, hoped somehow it wasn’t true. She knew it was stupid to hope like that when she knew it wasn’t possible. The broadcast was clear, the last line of defense had failed and there was no way to prepare another missile, calculate its trajectory, and fire at this point. They were out of the critical mission window. Even if somehow they prepared another shot, the asteroid was going to be too close by the time they were ready and it was still going to cause immense, apocalyptic, world ending destruction. 

She felt numb, couldn’t hear anything, could barely see through the tears welling up in her eyes. She was still in too much shock to blink, and by the time she realized she wasn’t breathing Catra had already turned her head, whispering encouragement to try to snap her out of it without waking up the kids. The tricky part was that Catra’s words were empty. It wasn’t going to be ok. They weren’t going to make it out of this. They were going to die here with their family; with Bow, Glimmer, Star, Jasper, Finn, and Felix. The world was ending and there was no hope for them to get off world, to survive.

A knock on the door jolted Adora out of her spiraling panic and Catra leaned forward to let Adora out from behind her so she could answer the door. She barely unlatched the dead bolt when the door flew open and Glimmer’s body was slamming into hers, arms wrapping around her middle and clutching tightly to her back. Bow came in after, Star on his hip and Jasper in the baby carrier in his hand. He set the carrier on the floor next to him and wrapped his free arm around his wife and their best friend. A sob escaped Glimmer and Adora held them both tighter. 

“Aunt Catra!” Star’s little voice cried out, lifting their head from their father’s shoulder and taking in the familiar surroundings of their Aunts’ apartment. Bow gave a watery chuckle and set them down on the floor so they could run over to the couch where Catra sat with a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes and a sleepy Finn blinking away the haze from their nap. Jumping off of the couch, Finn giggled and wrapped their best friend in a tight hug, the two children giggling and swaying back and forth in a dance that had the four adults smiling and laughing with them. Soon, Felix began crying and Adora took them into the bathroom to change their diaper while Catra got up to embrace Bow and Glimmer, whispering awkward ‘hey’s and ‘I love you’s with a depth beyond what they’d held before.

Glimmer and Bow came stocked with snacks and board games, and though they came dressed in their work clothes they quickly retreated to the guest room to change into the pajamas they brought. This wasn’t even out of the ordinary, the four friends rarely went to each others’ homes without some comfy clothes to change into upon arrival. Their friendship was just like that. They loved each other. The level of comfort they had achieved in each others’ presences was special, a connection they knew would last a lifetime.

None of them knew just how short of a lifetime it would be.

Bow and Adora pushed the couch in the living room out of the way to make room to place Adora and Catra’s king size mattress on the floor in the center of the room with the queen mattress from their guest room next to it. They gathered all of the blankets and pillows in the apartment to make a giant nest on the floor, laying the babies, Felix and Jasper, next to each other to nap lazily while Glimmer and Catra got to work digging through the freezer and cooking all of the snacks inside. Adora got out her grandmother’s cookbook, with all of the recipes they used to make together before she passed away, and started looking through the cupboards to pull ingredients. She put all of them on the dining table next to all of the tools they would need to make the batter for the cake she selected. 

She put little aprons on Finn and Star, standing behind them to help measure ingredients while Bow greased the pans and cut parchment paper to size. Glimmer and Catra bickered together like the long lost sisters they were while Catra made another round of cocoa for everyone and Glimmer snuck extra marshmallows into hers. While the cake was in the oven, Bow washed the dishes while Glimmer dried and Adora selected another movie to stream. 

They laughed together, played like they were children again and made sure that their kids didn’t see an ounce of the fear in their eyes. When one of them had to disappear with their partner to one of the bathrooms for a few minutes the other couple would entertain the kids. Glimmer and Bow held their tongues, eyes sparkling with mirth when Adora and Catra emerged with bruises on their necks and swollen lips. Catra would snort and Adora would elbow her in the side holding in her giggles when Glimmer came back looking flushed and Bow’s grin took over his face. More than once, each couple came back with wet hair looking freshly showered. 

Then there were the times that they emerged with red, glassy eyes, and couldn’t stop sniffling. They wouldn’t let their kids see them like that, not for long. It was bad enough that they couldn’t do anything to help them, to save them from what was to come. They wouldn’t let their last day on earth, last day as a family, be tainted with a sadness they were too young to understand. 

They nestled themselves, all eight of them, into their makeshift nest on the floor. Finn and Star found it very exciting, their playdates never lasting this far into the night much less involving a giant mass of pillows on the floor. Bow and Adora laid in the middle, back to back facing their wives. Catra and Glimmer were mirrored, facing their spouses and wrapping their arms around each other to sandwich their children between them. Adora had one arm curled around Catra, fingers pressing into the small of her back and the other reaching back to grab tightly to Bow’s pant leg. Her legs were intertwined with her wife’s, and she alternated pressing kisses to Catra’s lips and face with Finn’s and Felix’s heads. Glimmer held her children between her and her husband’s chests, reaching one hand up to stroke Bow’s face and the other across his torso to lace with Catra’s fingers. Bow held his wife and children to himself and gripped Adora’s wrist in his warm hand. They laid like that all night, whispering to each other so as not to wake the kids. None of the adults slept, though. There was too much to say, but it wouldn’t be enough. So, they laid like that and whispered stories, reminiscing about their younger selves when they all met, about the parties in college, the game nights, the fights and near breakups. They recounted memories of their wedding days, the days that their children were born, funny things they learned about being parents from each other, and all of the happy instances in between. They broke off halfway through sentences to squeeze each other tighter and say, “I love you,” hoping the others would know just how much. They absorbed each other’s presences, feeling the tiny heartbeats of their kids, and told each other all of the secrets they had been holding on to. Catra told Bow that it was her that threw up in his favorite boots at that party, and she just blamed that frat boy because she knew the boots were hand me downs from his grandfather and that he meant so much to her that she didn’t want to be the one who hurt him, especially since their friendship was so new. Bow laughed and told her he knew all along, that she was a terrible liar and she had done it in front of Adora who also couldn’t lie. Glimmer finally told Catra that the reason she didn’t like her at first was because she had a crush on Adora all those years ago and didn’t want to let go of the hope that Adora would break up with Catra and date her instead. Catra just laughed and said that she got a pretty sweet deal, marrying the nicest man she had ever met. 

They laughed and cried, told stories and apologized, whispered their plans for the future, the nonexistent future. Glimmer talked about how they would renew their vows next year in the ballroom at the nicest hotel downtown, drinking champagne and eating caviar. Catra talked about how she would take a year off work to travel, to take Adora to all of the places they had always wanted to vacation but never had the time. Bow finally told them about the last words his father told him before he passed away, that he knew how much Bow could love and to never stop showing that love to others. Adora told them about the first night she spent at her shitty foster parent’s house the night after her grandmother had passed. They shared secrets they never thought they would tell but felt like they needed to all of a sudden. They said every goddamn word that came to their minds without fearing a single judgement, knowing that if they held them in now there was never going to be a time to say them. 

When they saw the first rays of morning light coming through the windows they got up and started making the biggest, most extravagant breakfast they had ever had. There was french toast, chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, bacon, gravy, biscuits, little tea cookies and leftover cake. The kids had a blast, and were high on so much sugar they didn’t know what to do with themselves. Catra went to her office and pulled out the $300 bottle of Scotch that her professor had given her for graduation, that she was saving for a special occasion. While the kids jumped around the living room Adora grabbed 4 glasses and they poured a drink, raising their glasses to each other, to the friendship they made, the family it turned into, the love they shared, the homes they had, the children they loved, and the fact that not even the world ending could tear them apart.

When Finn and Star were tuckered out and crashing from the sugar Adora and Catra took Finn and Felix to their bathroom to bathe and change them into a fresh set of pajamas, pulling out all of the toys to make this the most fun bath time the kids had ever had. Glimmer and Bow took Star and Jasper to the other bathroom to do the same and when they were all dressed and ready for nap time the family all reconveined in the living room to lay back down in their makeshift nest.

As the sky began to grow dark, they took up the positions they laid in the night before, kissing each other on the cheeks, saying goodnight to the kids, and laying there holding each other. Each couple shared one last kiss and exchanged another round of ‘I love you’s before closing their eyes and holding their family tightly.

And then it was over. 

_If the world was ending, you’d come over right?  
Sky’d be falling and I’d hold you tight  
And there wouldn’t be a reason why  
We would even have to say goodbye_


End file.
